Tarmac Meditations #20 — Alone Together

June 17, 2010

I ran two hours plus this morning. I did not go to Newport to photograph the Henderson Marathon team alumni running. Ran the Mackenzie River trail instead. Sometimes the camera wins, sometimes the feet. I ran early, listened to mist rise off the lake, to the song of silence in the big trees. What is the sound of a forest breathing? The alumni did fine without me. They will remember it without my pictures. They took some of their own.

I have pictures from this morning’s run that will stay with me for a long time. Some of them are in the camera. It occurs to me that individually we each engage with the world beneath our feet — with air of the forest and the breeze off the bay for me. Or, on this day, with the crowd, the effort and the finish line for the others. But, in a larger sense, what each of us does alone brings us together, binds us to one another, makes us whole. Today, in its community, will last as long as it does and it will disappear with daily life. Its return awaits another sunrise when we lace up, light out, engage.

Photo Credit

“Newport Beach” thirteenthbat @ Flickr.com. Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved.

Recent Michael Lebowitz Articles:

• Rain In The Desert
• Tarmac Meditations #78: Longest, Furthest Yet.
• Tarmac Meditations #77: Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop
• Tarmac Meditations #76: Big Steel Rails
• Tarmac Meditations #75: Interval Training
• Tarmac Meditations #74: Nickname
• Tarmac Meditations #73: It Rains here in February except sometimes it snows. Part One
• Tarmac Meditations #72: Grace is Where You Find It
• Runnin'
• Tarmac Meditations #72: Overnight Summer had Ended